Umaid Bhawan Palace

Umaid Bhawan Palace, also called Chittar Palace as it is situated on the hills of Chittar, is located in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. It was built by Maharaja Umaid Singh of Jodhpur and is supposed to be one of the largest private residences across the globe. The top of the Chittar Hills is also the highest point of Jodhpur.

It had taken almost 5000 labourers for the construction of the palatial building and built over a period of 15 years. The building is made up of interlocking blocks of stones devoid of any cement or mortar. An interesting fact about the palace is that it always maintains an approximate temperature of twenty three degree Celsius. The palace hosts 347 rooms. It is also the abode of the royal family of Jodhpur till the present times.

The palace was designed by Henry Lanchester, an Edwardian architect. It has a perfect combination of both western and eastern inspirations. One part of the palace is maintained by the Taj Hotels group since 1972.  The current owner of the palace, Maharaja Gaj Singh has made three divisions of the palace – one section being maintained by the Taj Palace Hotel, another section is a private museum displaying the precious art, artifacts and weapons of the royal family and the third part is the residential portion of the regal descendants.